Bath and North East Somerset has collected a bouquet of top honours in this year’s Southwest in Bloom Awards.
Bath won gold and was category winner in the Southwest in Bloom competition. The city also won the Sponsors Cup for the most meritorious entry and there were special 50th anniversary awards for Stan Hitt MBE and Bill Bailey, both formally of the Parks Department.
Keynsham Memorial Park won Gold and Alexandra Park won a silver gilt in the parks award and St Stephens allotments a silver gilt in the allotments category. Radstock won gold in the Champion of Champions category and Midsomer Norton won gold and was a category winner,
Other towns and villages in the area also took gold and silver gilt: Paulton and Camerton both won gold awards with Keynsham, Chew Magna and Temple Cloud all winning silver gilt.
The awards were presented at an RHS awards ceremony on Thursday 18th September at Trowbridge Civic Centre.
The city also won 11 ‘outstanding’ awards from 22 entries as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual It’s Your Neighbour awards. It’s Your Neighbourhood is a grassroots community gardening campaign helping people to make lasting improvements to their local areas.
Councillor David Dixon, (Lib-Dem, Oldfield), Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “It has been a quite extraordinary year for Bath’s entries. The results are quite amazing and prove what incredible community groups we have in Bath.”
Barry Cruse MBE, Chairman of the Bath in Bloom Committee, said: “I am so pleased that in this special 50th anniversary year our county has done so well, with gold’s and silver gilts going to the towns and villages and high levels of achievement from the 60-plus community groups that entered the It’s Your Neighbourhood scheme.”
Outstanding (level 5) awards went to Batheaston Primary School, Bath City Farm, Alice Park community garden, Weston Trio, St Stephen’s Church, Primrose Hill community woodland, Milsom Place, Chandler Close Residents’ Association, Weston Village Gardening Club, Friends of the Royal United Hospital and the On Board community group.
In addition, five groups achieved a thriving (level 4) award: Barrow Hamlet, the Millstream Project, Friends of Alexandra Park forum, Beechen Bees and Weston All Saints Primary School.
The Jews Lane Project, Grow Snowhill, Bradford Road Gardening Club, and Dorothy House Outreach Centre all achieved a developing (level 3) awards, while Cavendish Cooks achieved an improving (level 2) award.
The RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood campaign supports community groups in cleaning up and greening up their immediate local environment – whether that’s the street they live in, or a small patch of communal land needing a revamp. Any group can join as long as it is volunteer-led and involved in hands-on community gardening.
Results for It’s Your Neighbour Awards:
1. Bath – Dorothy House Outreach Centre (Developing)
2. Bath – Friends of Alexandra Park Forum (Thriving)
3. Bath – Alice Park Community Garden (Outstanding)
4. Bath – Barrow Hamlet (Thriving)
5. Bath – Batheaston Primary School (Outstanding)
6. Bath – Beechen Bees (Thriving)
7. Bath – Bradford Road Gardening Group (Developing)
8. Bath – Cavendish Cooks (Improving)
9. Bath – Grow Snowhill (Developing)
10. Bath – Jews Lane Project (Developing)
11. Bath – Milsom Place (Outstanding)
12. Bath – Monksdale Community Plot (Thriving)
13. Bath – Primrose Hill Community Woodland (Outstanding)
14. Bath – St. Stephens Church (Outstanding)
15. Bath – Weston All Saints Primary School (Thriving)
16. Bath – Weston Trio (Outstanding)
17. Bath Chandler Close & M.B.E.Residents Association (Changler
Rangers) (Outstanding)
18. Bath City Farm (Outstanding)
19. Bath Millstream Project (Thriving)
20. Bath Weston Village Garden Club (Outstanding)
21. Bath – Friends of the Royal United Hospital (Outstanding)
22. Bath – On-Board Community Project (Outstanding)
23. Camerton – Coke Ovens Copse (Thriving)
24. Camerton – St. Peter’s Church, Camerton (Thriving)
25. Camerton Batch Local Nature Reserve (Outstanding)
26. Camerton Church Primary School (Thriving)
27. Camerton Community Hall (Thriving)
28. Camerton Court (Outstanding)
29. Keynsham – Baptist Church (Ebenezer Chapel) (Outstanding)
30. Keynsham – Castle Primary School (Improving)
31. Keynsham – Friends of Manor Road Community Woodland (Thriving)
32. Keynsham – Homeavon Community (Establishing)
33. Keynsham – Neighbour Hoodies Time Out Task Force (Improving)
34. Keynsham – Sirona Day Care Services (Establishing)
35. Keynsham – St Dunstan’s Catholic Church (Outstanding)
36. Keynsham Railway Station (Developing)
37. Keynsham Scout Group (Outstanding)
38. Keynsham Wombles (Thriving)
39. Keynsham Transition – Community Veg Plot (Thriving)
40. Midsomer Norton – St Johns Primary School (Outstanding)
41. Midsomer Norton – Silver Street Local Nature Reserve (Outstanding)
42. Midsomer Norton – The Hollies Gardens (Outstanding)
43. Midsomer Norton – Wansdyke Play Association (Outstanding)
44. Midsomer Norton Community Allotments Association (Developing)
45. Midsomer Norton Methodist Church (Thriving)
46. Midsomer Norton Primary School (Thriving)
47. Midsomer Norton Swallow Housing (Outstanding)
48. Midsomer Norton – River Somer Management Team (Outstanding)
49. Midsomer Norton – Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust (Thriving)
50. Midsomer Norton – Welton Afterschool Club Initiative (Developing)
51. Midsomer Norton – Welton Primary School (Developing)
52. Midsomer Norton – Welton Village Group (Developing)
53. Paulton – Baptist Church Garden (Improving)
54. Paulton – Cultivate With Colliver (Cultivate) (Developing)
55. Paulton – Fieldways Substation (Improving)
56. Paulton – Friends and Residents of Laurel Drive (Improving)
57. Paulton – Holy Trinity Church (Developing)
58. Paulton – The Lamb Inn (Developing)
59. Paulton – Wesley Hall Back Garden (Developing)
60. Paulton Junior School Gardening Club (Outstanding)
61. Paulton Nature Reserve (Thriving)
62. Paulton Noah’s Ark Preschool (Developing)
63. Radstock – Chapel Court Wildlife Garden (Developing)
64. Radstock – Connections Gardens (Outstanding)
65. Radstock – Haydon Heritage (Outstanding)
66. Radstock – Meadow View Residents (Outstanding)
67. Radstock – Methodist Church (Outstanding)
68. Radstock – RADCO Staff Volunteers (Thriving)
69. Radstock – St Nicholas Church Graveyard (Thriving)
70. Radstock – The Academy of Trinity (Outstanding)
71. Radstock – The Fromeway Inn (Thriving)
72. Radstock – Walnut Buildings Garden (Developing)
73. Radstock – Writhlington – St Mary’s CE School (Outstanding)
74. Radstock – Writhlington Allotments (Developing)
75. Radstock – Writhlington Community School Orchid Project (Outstanding)
76. Radstock – Clandown Orchard Project (Establishing)
